[TorontoCFE]

Here is the Canadian tax system in 1 easy lesson:

You only pay tax on "income" from the following sources that the ITA defines:
1. Eomployment / office
2. Business
3. Income from Property (interest, dividends, rent)
4, Capital gains

That is why gambling income and hobby income is not taxable - it is not specified in the Tax Act.

However, poker (and most other hobbies like coin collecting or model building) can fall under the definition of business income, if it meets the criteria you posted. Indeed, a capital gain becomes business income if your intent was to make a quick profit going in (as opposed to hold for awhile).

When looking at when it becomes a business (and thus taxable), the factors you copied are what the CRA looks at.

If you look at all of them and they point to a business on the total balance, then the income is taxable.
The idea is if you intend to pay the bills with poker earnings, approach it in a business-like manner (work to reduce risk, maximize earnings) and it is an ongoing activity, then it could very well be a business and thus taxable.

The issues come about through the fact that all of the criteria can be subjective (even though the law considers this a simple issue of fact).
All are open to some determination and thus can can only be sure of what is the correct interpretation through judge's rulings and there have been few so no one knows where the line is drawn.
Once there are a few cases and people see where judges put emphasis on the different factors then the cloudiness goes away.

Again, 98% of poker players would not be taxable (though that is going down).
It is the people who use poker earnings to pay daily living expenses and rely on it, approach it as a business with recordkeeping, multitabling, regular practice, etc.
that should be paying taxes and may one day get a rude awakening from the government.